The equestrian monument to Cosimo de' Medici, stands on the site of the houses of the Uberti, right in the middle of Piazza Signoria. It was placed here on the orders of his son Francesco and cast in 1594. The three bas-reliefs in bronze on the marble base portray an equal number of episodes celebrating the life of the first Grand Duke of Tuscany: the Senate conferring Tuscany with the Ducal title; Pope Pius V, seated on his throne, presenting him with the symbols of his power in 1570; and lastly his victorious entrance into Siena. The figure of man and horse are beautifully composed. The horse, just about to break into a trot, exhalts the regality and power of the Grand Duke astride his back. After completing it, its author, Giambologna, unveiled the sculpture and hid away in the construction site to listen to what people said about it. After studying it for a while, a peasant commented: - He’s made a very nice horse but it’s incomplete. Filled with curiosity, the artist persuaded a man nearby to ask the peasant what was missing, to which he answered with some authority: - He hasn’t made the hard pads (corns) on its legs. *** Almost all animals in fact have these oval-shaped growths on their inner forelegs, just above the knee. After hearing this criticism and checking the information, Giambologna covered the statue again and, expert metal worker that he was, cut and removed the necessary parts in order to leave a cavity large enough to contain the hard pads that today look perfectly natural, just as if they had been cast with the rest of the metal. Source: www.florence-concierge.it/earticoli/calli.html